Where the Willow Leads
by Quelebnen
Summary: Alexandra sighed in frustration. She should have learnt by now that Carey was likely to lose all direction whenever she went anywhere. Although she had never imagined that this loss of direction would lead them both into Middle Earth..
1. Old Man Willow

**Authors Note: **Hey readers! This is Quelebnen here! This story is co-written with my friend Tipix! (Hey Tipix its finally up!). This story seems to follow Tolkien more than any of the stories I've worked on. Please read and review both of us want to hear from you!

**STORY  by Quelebnen and Tipix**

PROLOUGE 

It was a warm autumn day and a cool breeze was blowing. Two friends, girls roughly the age 15, walked through the woods that bordered Millers Creek. The trees were filled with red, yellow, orange, gold, and many other multi-coloured leaves, while the forest floor was matted with the same leaves and some pine needles that had fallen to the ground. There was a fresh smell of winter in the cool breeze blowing and the creek was burbling happily as it wove among the trees and other forest vegetation. Some flowers still remained around the roots of the trees and the girls spotted many signs of wildlife on their stroll, such as birds, squirrels, and rabbits.

One of the girls (Carey) was what you would consider short. She had brown eyes that were always observing the world around her. Her hair was a reddish colour that she might describe it as 'pouffy', for it wasn't exactly curly, wavy, or straight, but more of a mix. She walked along with a happy smile on her face, which had acquired a tan during the time spent in the summer sun. The other young lady (Alexandra) was more or less 5 ft3. She had long, smooth brown hair, and dazzling blue eyes. She had a very fair, milky completion. Her family thought she was too pale, but that didn't matter to her anyway. She smiled happily as well; for she was very curious to see this 'surprise' Carey seemed so eager to show her.

As the two girls walked side by side, or as close to that as was possible in such a wood, Carey looked around in admiration at the scenery and surrounding wildlife. Autumn was so cool and calming, not to mention pretty. " It's so nice to be out in the fall again, it's my ABSOLUTE favourite weather!" She exclaimed.

"Its ok, I guess..." observed Alexandra. She preferred the period after summer and before fall. When it wasn't necessary to wear a sweater, as it was now, and it wasn't sweltering hot outside, as in summer. Today was just a bit too cool with too many leaves on the ground, instead of on the marvellous trees, for her liking. She wondered what Carey wanted to show her in the forest at this time of year. Carey seemed quite happy about it and had refused to give any kind of hints.

About 20 min's passed in silence as the two friends found their way through the undergrowth...

" What's the time?" Alexandra asked irritably. She thought it was unfair that it took Carey so long to find this so called surprise. She was beginning to become impatient, not that she had didn't want to see the 'surprise'. She was still very curious.

"It's about 4. Don't worry, we only have to be back by six." Carey answered. They'd make it, she thought to herself.

Alexandra shifted the bag on her back and grumbled something that sounded to Carey somewhat similar to "...If we ever find our way out of here."

" We're almost there." Carey said a bit more unsurely than she intended. " I think, I mean...well, doesn't that tree look familiar?"

" WE'RE LOST!" shrieked Alexandra in disbelieve.

" NO, not lost, umm…j-just, taking a short cut...I think." Carey mumbled somewhat to herself. The tree she wanted to show Alex was around here somewhere and she knew the way home from there.

Alexandra sighed in frustration. She should have learnt by now that Carey was likely to lose all direction whenever she went anywhere. She forced a smile and said,

" Oh, well. Now that you mention it, that tree does look sort of familiar." She followed Carey through some trees into a small clearing.

The clearing was warm and hazy as the sun shinned down on it lazily. The grass here was greener and softer then elsewhere and there were no golden leaves carpeting it. A tall, majestic Willow tree rose up from the middle of the clearing. Its long, broad branches twisted this way and that, draped with many vines of leaves, which looked as though they had never been any other colour than the fresh, olive green in which they appeared. On the other side of the Willow tree the creek ran softly. At the bottom of the Willow's trunk, part of some roots could be seen surfacing the ground as they reached towards the water. There were many knots on the tree and an unusually wide, gaping hole was present at its base. The conspicuous willow tree definitely had a very foreboding feel to it, Alexandra decided as she shivered.

"This is it!" cried Carey happily. She felt so safe and secure in this place. " I usually come here from the other direction, that's why I thought I was lost." She smiled as she walked towards the tree. She sat down about 2 feet from it and started to dig through her bag while humming.

"Why do I have the feel I've seen this before?" Alexandra asked puzzled. Her mind had become clouded and she was having trouble remembering anything. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Carey's obnoxious humming didn't help.

Carey closed her bag and looked up at Alexandra. She was surprised Alexandra hadn't worked it out. "It's just like Old-Man Willow from LOTR. Isn't that cool! I was so upset that they cut that out of the movie. Tom Bombadil was my favourite."

"Hey, your right. It does look like Old-Man Willow would. Look, there's even an opening at the bottom, I wonder what's in it?" Alexandra dreamily started towards the opening, always the more curious of the two.

Carey stood up worriedly. Why was Alexandra acting so strange? "I don't think we should... what if it's a badger or something?" she asked as she came to stand by Alexandra's side.

" But I want to see what's in it..." Alexandra crouched on the ground to peer into the hole.

There was a strange rumbling and Alexandra tried to back away from the tree. The ground gave way and both girls found themselves tumbling down the widening, dark hole screaming. But, as they fell, they noticed it was getting lighter.


	2. MiddleEarth Bound

A/N- sorry, The last version of this chap had some minor errors, thats all fixed now.

The Darkness faded quickly into light as the two girls fell. Where they fell to, or what they were falling through, they did not know. After what seemed like eternity, but was in fact almost immediate, the two girls stumbled in fright onto green grass.

There were mountains in the distance and a path leading on the other sides of the bushes they had stumbled into. Behind them there were many trees of types the girls weren't familiar with. Just in front of them there was a strange, large, inscribed stone. The path on its other side was roughly in the same position as the creek by the willow tree had been. The girls couldn't see any towns or cities, even on the horizon. This place must have been thousands of miles away from any large urbanized areas.

Carey realized they weren't in Canada anymore. She looked around to see if her friend, Alexandra, was there too. "Alexandra? Hey Alexandra...are you ok!"

Alexandra glanced around to see if anybody had noticed them appearing out of thin air. " Shhh! Get down!" Alexandra hissed in a sharp intake of breath as she pulled Carey to her knees with a lot of force. Why was Carey so loud? She MUST have noticed they weren't home any more after their fall!

"Ouch! What's going on, were are we?" Carey asked in a low and confused voice

" We seem to have stumbled into some type of parallel world or something..." Alexandra replied.

"Parallel watsamijig?"

"Never you mind, now be quite!"

The discussion ended as Carey obeyed. She knew you really shouldn't argue with Alexandra, after all, Alexandra did know a lot more about strange happenings than herself. She stared around them in amazement... Where was this place? It all seemed

too familiar...

"Hey, hey...Carey! That's the third time I've called you, pay attention!"

As Alexandra was gazed down the path as she had noticed some very short, broadly built men laughing and signing as they walked. If Carey and herself weren't quite, they would be spotted.

Carey looked at Alexandra. She was listening attentively to something Carey couldn't hear...her long brown hair falling in front of her face as she gazed forward, muttering to herself under her breath.

"Do you hear that?" Alexandra whispered urgently.

"Obviously not.." Carey started to reply, but she didn't continue... she did hear it. In fact, she was surprised she hadn't heard anything before. Two deep voices could be heard nearby, signing loudly and deeply to a very catchy tune.

Carey gasped in surprise as Alexandra elbowed her sharply.

_Dwarves._

"But, D-Dwarves, Alexandra! Look around! The forest! See those mountains?

Dwarves? Alexandra! Haven't we…we've read about this before!" Carey stammered in absolute shocked.

"Yes, yes we have...but it was just a book...wasn't it?" Alexandra replied. She was very surprised, and, from the look on her face, so was Carey. They had somehow found a link into Tolkien's world through the willow tree.

They stared in utter amazement as the Dwarves passed, too noticeably and loudly Carey thought, ... If they were where they thought they were, Alexandra and Carey were definitely going to be late for Supper..."


	3. Ramdom Swords

Disclaimer: We don't own any of Tolkien's Works. sobs  
If we did there would be a lot more Elves, Hobbits and every chapter would have Tom Bombadil in it.

A/N. Yes.. this is a veeery short chapter, but the others will be longer! Please bear with us, the story _does_ get more exciting later on!

* * *

As the Dwarves passed Alexandra was still getting over the shock. "Umm Carey, do you think we're in, you know, Middle-Earth?" 

"I...I guess so." stammered Carey. The site of the dwarves had sort of paralysed them both. It was weird to suddenly see things that they had read and dreamed about, but never expected to actually see.

"I wonder, do you think we might meet the fellowship?" Alexandra asked. There was an excited light in her blue eyes.

"I don't know." Carey answered truthfully. Alexandra was asking questions Carey didn't think she'd ever be able to answer. Right now all she wanted to do was sit still and be safe. This was all really strange; perhaps she was dreaming..."Ouch!" She exclaimed as she realized she had pinched herself. She was definitely awake.

"Wait a minute!" Carey started to voice her worries, "If we were in Middle Earth, I mean, if we _are_ in Middle Earth, there might be orcs around! If you haven't noticed we don't have any protection."

"Hey, look Carey!" Alexandra pointed two swords randomly placed in the middle of the path by which the Dwarves had just passed.

"I don't really want them." Carey said earnestly. "If this is Middle Earth, then it follows Tolkien. Why would their be swords just lying around? Its too suspicious, lets leave them."

"I don't know, and I don't care! I'd rather travel through Middle Earth with a sword than without." Alexandra got up and walked toward the sword.

"I _really_ don't-" Carey didn't finish her sentence. The sudden sight of Alexandra flying up into the air, screaming, confirmed her fears.

" CAREY! HELP ME!" Alexandra yelled she hung upside down by her ankle.

At that moment two dwarves came crashing through the woods. They were both slightly taller than Carey, and of a heavy build. One had a long white beard, the other had a shorter beard with more of a reddish colour. Carey stood her ground, frozen with fear.

"I told you I saw someone spying on us." Said one of the Dwarves as he ran towards the girls. "And to think you didn't want to set a trap."

He stopped as he reached them and smiled with malevolence. "Look what we've got here, two little elflings."

"I'm not a-" Carey started, but was silenced by a large axe at her neck.


	4. Of Hairy Feet

Disclaimer: seeing this is fanfiction there's no real need for disclaimers.

A/N: This is longer than our other chapters, and we hope you enjoy it... we had fun writing it anyways. Please tell us what you think, and suggestions are always welcome.

Saber Apricot: We are aware that Dwarves exist in many other stories, etc. but we thought it would be obvious to the girls that they were in Middle-Earth, since they love Tolkiens works so much. There is something very elf-like about Alexandra, that is why, at first glance, the Dwarves thought her to be an elf. They supposed Carey was one too as she was with Alexandra.

Thanks to all our other reviewers... please continue reading the story, we're trying not to make it too Mary Sue-ish. o.-

* * *

Alexandra saw the axe being held at Carey's neck from her upside down view as she hung from her leg in the air. This was definitely going to be trouble. Her big mouth spoke out: "I'm an elf!" 

"You're pretty short to be an elf." A Dwarf commented, giving her a mocking look.

The other Dwarf, still holding the Axe to Carey's throat, smiled evilly and motioned towards her, "Then what is this?"

Alexandra gave Carey a desperate look. C_ome on- think of something._ She thought to herself, hoping Carey would understand. Her leg was starting to hurt; she wished Carey would hurry up.

"Well, I'm definitely no elf," Carey stated giving Alexandra a worried glance, "I'm a... a... hobbit!"

Alexandra smiled at Carey and started to weave a tale, "I am a High Elf who befriended this hobbit. We were headed towards Rivendell-" Alexandra was interrupted by the red-haired Dwarf who had been looking at Carey in disbelief.

"A hobbit, puhh! Only one way to check if it's a hobbit." The two dwarves started to move closer to Carey.

"What are you going to do?" asked Carey, looking from Dwarf to Dwarf. She could pass off as a hobbit, could she not? After all, she was very short. She glanced nervously at Alexandra.

The red-haired Dwarf smiled happily at Carey's discomfort. "A Hobbit has hairy feet, lets take a look, shall we?" He looked down at her shoes, amused.

"Ummmm..." Carey thought hard and fast; what had she read about hobbits? She stumbled over her words in fright as the dwarves came nearer, "I- I don't have hairy feet."

Alexandra shot Carey a VERY frightened look and mouthed, "what are you DOING!". The dwarves had stopped their advance and looked sceptically at Carey; she felt herself going red.

" I'm a-a Fallowhide hobbit. We're taller and, um, less hairy than other hobbits. Our hair is also fairer and we love the trees and woodlands. Fallowhides are also uh- more adventurous and on friendly terms w-with elves..." Carey stammered, more or less reciting the LOTR prologue. Was that all she had read? She remembered there had been something else- "Oh! We're less numerous than the other hobbit types, and if you were to.. to trace the history of the Tooks you would find they have Fallowhide ancest-" she was cut short with the axe from earlier at her neck again.

" This one I don't like; it talks too much." said the holder of the axe.

Alexandra breathed a sigh of relieve, at least Carey read the prologues.

The newly acclaimed hobbit turned her head as much as one can when there is an axe being held against your neck. The two Dwarves were considering what she had said, they obviously knew about hobbits. Maybe Alexandra and herself would be able to leave soon...

" CAN SOMEONE PLEASE CUT ME DOWN FROM HERE!" Alexandra called them back to the present, still hanging upside down. A Dwarf (the one with the shorter, red beard) absentmindedly cut the rope she was hanging by with his axe. Alexandra fell ineptly to the ground.

"The elf isn't very graceful." commented the Dwarf with a smirk.

Alexandra glared at him with fury.

"May I inquire why an elf, and a hobbit,are wandering so near to Erebor?" queried the Dwarf with the white beard as he waved his hand in direction of a distant mountain, ignoring the hostility between Alexandra and his fellow Dwarf.

"What are two Dwarves such as yourselves doing here, near the woodlands?" asked Alexandra, recovering from her fall. "I notice that Erebor is but a small mountain in the distance." She accompanied her statement with a swoop of her arm, starting at the not-too-distant forest of Mirkwood and ending in the direction of Erebor.

The Dwarf, with the white beard, that was obviously in charge, replied, "We, too, are heading for Rivendell."

"Why are you wandering towards Erebor?" repeated the red-haired Dwarf frigidly.

" We have already told you our business." stated Alexandra huffily. She didn't like this dwarf at all. Why wasn't she back at home reading about this?

He smiled maliciously, " No, you have told us where you are headed, not why you were here."

" That is OUR concern, thank-you-very-much. " replied Alexandra.

As the Dwarves and Alexandra continued arguing Carey started to guess things from what she had heard so far. The forest near them was Mirkwood; that was obvious, the distant mountain was Erebor, or in other words, the Lonely Mountain, and this path was the Old Forest Road. Where were the Dwarfs going, Rivendell? The Council, of course! "Am I in the presence of Gloin, one of the twelve companions of the great Thorin Oakenshield, or even Gimli, son of Gloin?" She asked quickly. The argument stopped, Alexandra looked at Carey as if she was insane. But one of Dwarves the turned to her and bowed. " I am Gimli." stated the dwarf that had bowed, the red-haired one with the drawn axe Carey noted. "This is my sire, Gloin." he gestured at the Dwarf with the white beard they had guessed was in charge.

" I am honoured to be in the presence of two Dwarves such as yourselves. Aurora Took at your service and your families'!" She replied bowing. Maybe they would forget their argument if she showed good manners. After all, she was in Tolkien's world!

"Well met and welcome Aurora Took." retuned Gloin. " Now that we are at an understanding, let us continue our journey to Rivendell. You and your friend are welcome to join us, if you will."

Gimli turned with distain to Alexandra. "What might your name be _elf_?"

"My name is Quelebnen." Alexandra replied, while giving a disgusted look to Carey, who was avoiding her gaze. " I thank you for your _kindly_ offer master _Dwarf_, but we have pressing business before we travel on to Rivendell. I offer you our gratitude." And with that Alexandra gave a very dignified bow. " Come now _Aurora_, let us continue OUR journey." Alexandra stalked off huffily, without waiting for Carey.

Carey bowed again to the dwarves and thanked them for their time, she then ran off after Alexandra.

"It is indeed strange times we live in, that an elf refuses to enter a forest and a female hobbit follows an elf." Said Gloin wonderingly as he watched the two friends go on their way.


	5. Elf Ears

A/N: Sorry it took us a while to get this posted... I hope we haven't disapointed you _too_ much ;) 

To our reviewers: Thanks a lot! Good or bad, reviews show that people are reading this. LOL. This isn't _going_ to be a Mary-Sue, at least not if we can help it. Just a note-- no one in this story is going to fall in love or w/e with any of Tolkien's characters. Sorry to any who were expecting that.

* * *

**Chapter Five  
Elf Ears**

Carey hurried after Alexandra, who had stormed around a bend in the path and now stood behind a clump of trees, watching the dwarves walk down the path in the opposite direction. As Carey approached Alexandra turned around to face her, irritation plainly written across her face. 

"_How_ did you guess it was Gimli and Gloin and _why_ did you give them that _ridiculous_ name?" she fumed at her friend, still mad about their encounter.

"_Carey_ isn't exactly a very hobbit-like name, if you didn't notice. Besides, it's not as ridiculous as saying I'm a HIGH-ELF! You don't even have pointed ears!" retorted Carey.

"I can fix that," said Alexandra moodily, "I carry a set of fake elf ears in my bag for good luck. If we find a stream we can make ourselves look a bit more like an elf and a hobbit." She added the latter in a more calmed voice.

Glad for the change of subject Carey looked at her clothes, "Good idea." The dwarfs must have been blind not to see how strange their appearances were for Middle-Earth terms. They needed different clothes, cloaks, weapons, and supplies such as food. _At least we now know where we are and what time in the story we're in_, thought Carey. Their meeting with the dwarves hadn't been as bad as Alexandra made it out to be-

"Carey, are you coming?"

Her thoughts interrupted, Carey looked up; Alexandra was standing on the Old Forest road tapping her foot impatiently. Carey slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed Alexandra towards the River Running.

**-oo-**

The two girls had been walking alongside the river for about twenty minutes before Carey decided to break the silence. "Don't you think you were a bit rude to Gimli 'Quelebnen'?" she asked Alexandra.

"I never really liked Gimli," her friend replied matter-of-factly. But, now that she thought about it, she did feel a little bad about her behaviour towards the dwarf.

The two walked by a tributary from River Running, ending in a pool of water, which was partially blocked from view by trees. Carey motioned towards it, "That looks like a great place to stop." She suggested happily.

"I agree," Alexandra stated simply.

The girls started towards the pool. After making sure no by passers could see them Alexandra threw her bag to the ground and started to go through it. "Mind helping me with these?" she asked as she found what she was searching for.

Carey looked bewilderedly at the oddly shaped lumps of plastic and crazy glue Alexandra held in her hand. "Um, OK. But- what in the world _are_ they?" she asked.

"Elf ears," Alexandra smiled, "If I have to look like an Elf, then I'm going to have to crazy glue my ears."

Carey laughed at the thought. The only thing she could think of that would make Alexandra look more elf-like was pointy ears, and maybe a bow and arrows. "Wait a minute!" She stopped laughing and suddenly looked appalled, "Don't hobbits have pointy ears too?"

"Oh yes indeed," Alexandra smiled maliciously as she handed Carey another pair of ears and a small pocket-knife. "They're elf ears, so you're going to have to reshape them a bit yourself."

Carey moodily accepted the elf ears from Alexandra and then, sitting down, began to snip away at her set of elf ears.

"And Carey,"

The redhead looked up unhappily at her smiling friend.

"_Try_ not to cut yourself" finished Alexandra sardonically.

Carey looked back down at her work; she didn't feel the need to respond to her friend's comment. She didn't _always_ cut herself.

After they had finished with their ears Carey brightened up a little; the sight of Alexandra with pointy ears was enough to humour her again. "Uh- Alex, why did you have crazy glue with you?" she asked, amused.

Alexandra blushed, " I like to be prepared, that's all. Besides, aren't you GLAD I do?"

The two friends laughed.

"Lets see; hair," Alexandra mused.

"That's simple." Carey said as she opened her bag. She pulled out some elastic bands and started braiding Alexandra's hair into an Elven style.

Alexandra smiled, "When did you learn to do Elven braids?"

"Same time you found a store that sold plastic elf ears." Carey replied with a grin.

"Oh, yesterday then."

After Carey had finished with her hair Alexandra stood up, "Now for your hair," She said and pushed her friend into the pool of water. Carey screamed as she suddenly fell and came up spluttering.

"Why did you do THAT!" She almost shouted at Alexandra as she climbed out the water.

"Your hair had to be wet for me to curl it properly," replied Alexandra with an innocent smile.

"You could have TOLD me first, now I'm soaking wet!" Carey flung her arms out in exasperation. She sat down and took of her wet shoes and sweater.

Alexandra knelt down and started to curl Carey's hair as best as she could. "We knew we'd have to make some sacrifices the moment we appeared here." She replied happily.

"What are you talking about?" retorted the redhead hotly as she tried, unsuccessfully, to wring out her socks, "We didn't _try_ to come here; besides, I could have curled my own hair."

**-oo-**

The sun had almost set when Alexandra and Carey were ready to pack up their things and continue their journey. The girls were hungry, as they hadn't brought much food with them, expecting to be home long before now.

As the self-claimed hobbit and elf walked along the river, they became a bit giddy. The thought that they were actually in Tolkien's Middle-Earth was starting to settle.

"Look, Carey; there's Lake Town!" Alexandra almost shouted from the excitement.

"That's means we're nearing the Realm of the Wood Elves," Carey added breathlessly.

"This is SO awesome!" Alexandra took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She was excited but she was also very nervous. "Carey, do you really think we should be doing this?" she asked her friend, nervously.

Carey answered with a grim look, "No, but its all we are able to do."

"I really don't believe in stealing," said Alexandra quietly.

"Neither do I," whispered Carey in return, "But we can't ask, because then they'll realize we're not from Middle-Earth. Just look at what we're wearing!"

Alexandra sighed. Carey was right; she doubted there was anything else to do.

The two girls stood at the edge of the River Running; it was now twilight. Their hair and features looked similar to that of a Hobbit and an Elf, but their clothes left a lot to be desired. The dark helped a bit though, the friends didn't look quite as conspicuous. They couldn't remain grim long though; Alexandra chattered away, trying to sound more like an Elf and phrase her sentences to seem smarter. Carey helped with this as her strongest subject was English, she also walked as softly as she could, trying to act more like a hobbit. Their antics caused them both to burst out laughing every few minutes and the few people who passed them by on the path must have thought them crazy.

**-oo-**

The night grew darker as Carey and Alexandra waited. They referred to Alexandra's map of Middle-Earth, which she brought with her at all times for good luck, to make sure they could accomplish what they had to do quickly.

"From what I read in the hobbit, The Lakes Town Folk only left a few guards at the guard house, if you could call it that; everyone else should be in the city. I suggest we swim to the town, rather than try the bridge. We could avoid the guards better this way." Carey explained her plan to Alexandra as the time for their departure drew nearer.

Alexandra agreed, "We could then climb up the ladders that lead to those little boats tied to the poles supporting the town," She pointed to the closest ladder, about twenty feet from the shore.

"So, only what we really need then?" Carey asked as Alexandra went to put the map away.

Alexandra nodded solemnly, " Food, blankets, clothing, tinder boxes-"

Assured, Carey continued with the implementation of their plan. "Remember, we're in Middle Earth; there might be a few supplies that we might find, well, strange."

"What are you getting at?" asked Alexandra; looking up from the bush she was hiding their current supplies under.

"Well, pipe-weed for one. We should see if there is any around, it might come in handy for negotiations. People seemed fond of it in the books; hobbits anyways"

"Okay then," Alexandra stood up, "We should set our watches. Meet back here in 45 minutes?"

"Good idea, I-- My watch; it's gone!" Carey exclaimed in dismay, staring at her now watch-less wrist.

Alexandra quickly checked her wrist, "Mines gone too! Oh no," Alexandra had checked her mouth, "My retainer!"

"Did you take it out?" Carey suggested helpfully.

"No, I didn't," Alexandra had pulled her bag out from under the bush and was digging through it. "Something really odd is happening. Carey, check for _some_ sort of technology!" Alexandra turned around to face her friend, a confused look playing on her pale face. This was defiantly strange; they hadn't been robbed, that she was sure of. Then what was--

" My iPod is gone," whispered Carey as she looked up desperately from her bag, interrupting Alexandra's reflection.

"All our technology's _gone_?" Alexandra whispered in disbelief. This was NOT good.

"Wait a minute," Carey's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "We're in Middle Earth."

"Bravo. Took you long enough." Alexandra replied in a sardonic tone of voice, still searching through her bag.

A look of irritation passed across Carey's face, "Hear me out; will you?"

Alexandra smiled, "All right. Lets hear your _theory_."

Carey looked thoughtfully at Alexandra as she carefully worded her thoughts, "This all seems to follow Tolkien, doesn't it?" Alexandra nodded in silent agreement. "Tolkien didn't give Middle Earth any of the technology we have at home, so all our technology from _there_ doesn't exist _here_."

Alexandra arched an eyebrow, "Well, that's going to make life a bit tougher."

"I guess we'll seem more-" Carey smiled at her next word, "Middle-Earthian; no technology and all. Not that something like _that _is going to stop _us_. Meet me back here when you think a half an hour has passed." Carey finished, hiding her bag, sweater, socks and shoes before testing the water; She winced at the coolness of it.

"You mean 45 minutes," corrected Alexandra as she followed suit.

"Yes, 45 minutes."


End file.
